ASIAN REGIONAL MEETING TO PREPARE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

ASIAN REGIONAL MEETING TO PREPARE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

BANGKOK, 21 November (UN Information Service) -- A high-level 3 day regional meeting will take place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, next week -- from 27-29 November -- to articulate the regional position for the world summit on sustainable development to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, next year.

The meeting is organized jointly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The meeting will be in two parts:

-- An Asia-Pacific round table on sustainable development, to consider the regional platform paper which will be presented to the Ministerial segment for endorsement.  This will also include a session on financing sustainable development, which will look at innovative ways of financing development activities including private sector partnerships.

-- The round table will be followed by ministerial deliberations, to formulate and adopt a "regional platform" that will comprise a regional assessment of the implementation of Agenda 21, key policy issues and priorities for sustainable development, goals for the region in the next decade.  Specific proposals regarding strengthening or raising the effectiveness of regional and international cooperation, including institutional arrangements and financing will be considered.

The Johannesburg summit is the 10-year review of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

The media are invited to attend the event at three Press Conferences.

For more information, please contact:  David Lazarus, United Nations Information Services, UN/ESCAP Bangkok, Tel: 662 288 1866.  Fax: 662 288 1052.

E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org;lazarus.unescap@un.org;Tim Higham,

Information Office, United Nations Environment Programme Tel +66 2 2882127.

E-mail: higham.unescap@un.org, or John Brittain, Public Information Officer,

UNDP Cambodia Tel: 012 818 766; 023 216 167.  Fax: 023 216 257;

E-mail:john.brittain@undp.

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